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First Night Flight of Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh made his first night flight over Lake Chicot and Lake Village in 1923.

Did you know Charles Lindbergh made his first night flight over Lake Chicot and Lake Village in 1923? A marker in Lake Village ( off Highway 159) says about the accomplishment, ‘In April 1923 Lindbergh, then an unknown 21-year-old mail pilot, experienced engine trouble and landed his airplane on the now abandoned golf course behind this site of the old Lake Village Country Club. He remained in Lake Village overnight. During the evening he took his host, Mr. Henry, for a moonlit flight down the Mississippi and over Lake Village. It was the first time that Lindbergh had flown after dark.’

The below interesting article on the feat was written by Nancy Hendricks of ASU for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

In the acclaim for Charles Augustus Lindbergh following his solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, few people recognized the small but significant role Arkansas played in the historic event. Today, a modest monument off Highway 159 near Lake Village marks the Arkansas site that contributed to one of the greatest stories in American history.

In April 1923, Charles Lindbergh was a young airmail pilot who had taught himself to fly. He had engine trouble on a flight between Mississippi and Houston, Texas, and landed near Lake Chicot in Lake Village, in an open space which was used as a local golf course. The nearest building was the clubhouse. The keeper, Mr. Henry, and his family sometimes used the building as an inn and extended their hospitality to the young pilot.

A monument off Highway 159 near Lake Village marks the area of the historic flight.

After repairing the plane (which had no instruments, radios, or other navigational tools), Lindbergh noticed the evening’s bright full moon and clear sky. In his book, We, Lindbergh said it was “an ideal night for flying” in the soft yellow moonlight, adding: “I decided to see what the country looked like from the air at night and jokingly asked my host to accompany me. For some reason, he had no fear of a night flight although I had been unable to persuade him to go up with me in the daytime. What his reaction would have been, had he known that I had never flown after dark before, is a matter of speculation.” They apparently had a brief but pleasant flight by moonlight over Lake Village and the Mississippi as Lindbergh’s host later remarked that evening that he had “never spent a more enjoyable quarter hour in his life.”

Four years later, Lindbergh was able to use the night-flying skills that he first tried in Arkansas by flying day and night in the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic.

The foundation stones of the old clubhouse Lindbergh mentioned are currently on private property on North Lake Shore Road in Lake Village. An obelisk monument was placed there in 1934 by the Chicot Delphian Society and marks the area of the flight.

2 comments on “First Night Flight of Charles Lindbergh”

I have a copy of WE, Lindbergh’s book. It makes for a great read on early aviation and a man who played such a powerful role in its development. I find it interesting to read about places he flew and visited prior to becoming famous. He once landed in Lake Charles, LA, my old home town.

Thanks for your note Roy! I will have to check out that book sometime–I have been through Lake Charles, LA–I never knew he landed there too–thanks for sharing. It is great to learn about all these connections to Lindbergh–take care~